The Green Embankment, a project to clean up and green the shores of the Colentina Lakes that have been neglected for 30 years, is one of the biggest and most beautiful projects promised by Mayors Clotilde Armand and Radu Mihaj during the 2020 election campaign. Although there are a few months left before the elections, the project remained at the bureaucratic stage, only a few items were drawn up, indicatively.

Work on the development of the route did not actually begin even in 2023 and there is little chance that it will begin in 2024. The only big thing that has been done on the ground so far: the City Hall of Sector 2 has almost finished cleaning the lakes. from the administration, having removed almost 40,000 tons of garbage.

What did the City Hall of Sector 1 do to arrange the green embankment

In 2021, Mayor Clotilda Armand opened to the public three areas around Lake Băneasa, on Matelotilor, Gârla and Madrigalului Streets, which were fenced off. The measures were minimal, the goal was demonstrative, to show citizens the enormous potential of this project.

Also in 2021, the City Hall began an inventory of the lands intersecting with the embankment, concluded a protocol with the Department of Lakes, Parks and Recreation of the Capital City Hall (manager of the lakes) for the implementation of the project, and launched a tender for the development of the urban plan of the project.

In 2022, the further section was not opened, but the land inventory was continued, a tender for feasibility study was started and the owners of the lands that reach the water cut were discussed, whether they agree to give up the land or not.

Deputy Mayor of Sector 1: “No one has reached where we have reached”

In 2023, the land inventory was completed, a table of lands that were in public ownership was drawn up, there were discussions with the owners regarding the transfer of a small plot for the construction of the embankment, Deputy Mayor Oliver Pejusi told HotNews.ro. Also, in 2023, the City Hall of Sector 1 managed to complete the tenders for the creation of the Zonal Urban Planning Plan, necessary for the implementation of the project, and the tender for the design of works to strengthen the shores of the lake.

• “The main success was the fact that we finally won the court process regarding the procurement procedure for the arrangement of the public transport system for the embankment. The contract was signed and the design started. Then we managed to solve the cadastral part of the respective plots.
• On the banks of the lakes, along the embankment, there were hundreds of allotments – thousands of plots with different owners. It was a huge puzzle I made. We have compiled a table of privately owned lands for the Municipality of Bucharest, we have a partnership with the General Council.
• On the other hand, we have completed the tender for the project of arranging the shore of the lake and securing the shores. This project will be completed in March and must be approved by the city council.
• We are going to hold a tender for implementation. PUZ will be ready by August. What we hope to do this year are the existing sections, made 40 years ago, that need to be renovated,” Paiushi explained.

As for the private property on the waterfront, Payusi says about 90% of the owners want to give up their land for the project.

“A lot of owners agree to give in, to make a cadastral correction, in the sense that they were already obliged by law to leave an access road on the shore of the lake, at least 4 m wide. About 90% of the developers I talked to said, that agreed to give way. With the remaining 10% who don’t want to give in or we haven’t had time to talk to them yet – because there are situations when there are 50 owners on the plot, we could put those bridges over the water that bypass the properties,” Payushi explained.

When asked why the whole bureaucratic part took so long, Peiusi says it was almost impossible to do.

“It’s been tried several times over the last 20 years, but no one has done it because it’s almost impossible to do, and no one has managed to achieve what we’ve achieved,” Payussi explained.

In May 2023, a contract was signed with the companies Aquaproiect and Tera Design Studio for the implementation of the “Technical and economic feasibility study of the investment objective of renovation, rehabilitation of the banks of the Băneasa, Grivița and Străulești – Promenada Verde” 3,555,816 lei. The auction started in September 2022.

The contract for the development of the Zelena Naberezhna PUZ was signed by Mayor Clotilde Armand only in December 2023, due to the fact that Vego Concept Engineering contested the winner determined by the Sector 1 City Hall. However, the CNSC determined that the Sector 1 City Hall was correct, and the winner was the Agorapolis Association SRL – Raumplan Design. The cost of the contract is 838,000 lei without VAT.

In the best case, work on the development of the embankment will begin in 2025, as the situation develops.

What did the City Hall of Sector 2 do to arrange the green embankment

In Sector 2, the main obstacle to the implementation of the “Green Embankment” was garbage in the lake, which has been dumped there for the past 30 years. In 2021, the island on Lake Plumbuita, the lake, the canal connecting Lake Fundeni and part of this lake were cleaned, and 10,000 tons of garbage were removed. In 2022, the same thing. In 2023, 14,000 tons from Lake Fundeni, according to data sent by representatives of the Sector 2 City Hall to HotNews.ro. The institution has a contract for the collection and removal of another 30,000 tons of garbage to the landfill. Not all the removed garbage was taken to the landfill.

“The last hundred meters on Lake Fundeni, but also the hardest. It’s been a busy year at the lake. Work was carried out in several directions, obstacles that seemed impossible were overcome, and in the end we draw a line on the plus side. Lake Fundeni was approached from all sides. There are still a few small plots left for next year, but the hard part is over. In 2024, we will complete all landscaping activities,” the city’s mayor, Radu Mihaiu, wrote on his Facebook page at the end of November.

In 2021 and 2022, the street on the shore of Lake Plumbuita, between Plumbuita Parks and Doamna Gica Park, which was full of potholes, was also asphalted, practically the first piece of the promenade, briefly greened.

But nothing more was done. In 2022 and 2023, work was mainly carried out on the inventory of lands that overlap the route of the embankment and their tabulation, preparation of the theme of the competition for the layout of the embankment.

In 2022, the City Hall of Sector 2 signed an agreement with the Romanian Order of Architects, which will organize an international competition for solutions for arranging the shores of the lake.

In 2024, most likely, a competition for solutions for the development of a feasibility study will be held, the development of the FD will begin, and after their completion and approval, a tender for the execution of works can be launched.

“In 2023, work was carried out on the development of the competition’s subject matter, regulations and demarcation of the research area. We have completed the inventory of land that overlaps the embankment, we have this inventory. At the same time, we prepared documentation for the tabulation of unregistered lands in the Salba protection zone. On the basis of the protocol with the City Council of Sector 2, “Romanian Waters”, in turn, carries out mapping of the lands subject to Law 107/1996, the Law on Water Resources of Romania, lands that are state property and managed by Romanian Waters”, – it is stated in the answer sent by representatives of the City Hall of Sector 2.

According to the inventory, about 60% of the land along the embankment route is private property, the rest is state property.

The city hall does not have data on how many private individuals would like to give up the land if they wish, but 96 places were identified where there are suspicions that the owners came with a fence to the lake, although they did not have the right one. 33 extensions were voluntarily revoked, as a result of a summons issued by Local Police Sector 2, where the owners did not want to revoke, 7 revocation orders were issued, of which 6 were enforced and one was challenged and later won in court, which will be implemented by ADP2, according to with a cited source.

How much the development of the embankment costs, what land will be alienated/purchased, all this will be determined by the feasibility study.

About the green embankment

In Bucharest, along the Colentina River, there are 10 lakes: Straulești, Grivița, Băneasa, Hestrau, Floreaska, Tei, Plumbuita, Fundeni, Dobroști and Panteleimon I. The first 5 are in sector 1, the next 5 are in sector 2. Straulești, Grivița, Băneasa , Herăstrău, Floreasca, Tei are managed by the Metropolitan City Hall through the Parks and Recreational Lakes Administration, and the rest are in Romanian waters.

Despite the fact that they are a great resource of the city and have a huge potential, they stood neglected for 30 years and turned into real landfills.

HotNews.ro has written several times about their condition over the past 10 years.

In 2007, the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest approved the economic indicators for the project to restore the Colentina Lakes, clean up the surrounding areas and introduce them to the tourist circuit. The project, worth about 33 million euros, was supposed to be financed by 85 percent from European funds, but after the arrival of Sorin Oprescu to the capital city hall in 2008, it was forgotten.

In 2010, the capital’s mayor’s office presented a new project – the development of a tourist route on the Florjaska and Tei lakes and the area adjacent to them. The cost of the project was 20 million euros, part of which is European funds. This was done, but poorly done, as there is no continuous road between the two lakes, so it is little used and the facilities have fallen into disrepair. The rest of the lakes remained in ruins.

During the 2020 election campaign, Clotilde Armand and Radu Mihaiu promised that they would clean up the mess on the lake shores if they became mayors and build a green promenade there, a pedestrian and bicycle route so that you can go to the lake shores from one end of Bucharest and get to the other side. A good project, but difficult to implement in the conditions when a good part of the road on the banks of the lakes, which should have been preserved, became private property, the buildings extend to the lake, and in the village areas where this is not the case are full of garbage.

In the best case, work on the development of the embankment will begin in 2025.